The day of ‘We the people…’

Two days ahead of the observance of the Republic Day on 26th January in 1950, very important constitutional formalities were completed in the Constituent Assembly of India. I am recapitulating some of the historical proceedings of January 24, 1950 as the son of a founding father of the Constitution of India Sardar Sochet Singh Aujla who represented PEPSU and signed the historic document on that day.

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My father got up in the morning with a beaming face and attired himself in the ceremonial national dress — white churidars and black pashmina achkan. He was going to the Constituent Assembly on a special mission. It was to pen his signature to the supreme law of the land, the Constitution of India, which was to guide the destinies of a free Sovereign Democratic Republic. The fruits of labour of the Constituent Assembly, which spent 2 years, 11 months and 17 days to complete its historic task, were now reaching the culmination point. The Constitution, which was adopted on November 26, 1949, was to come into effect from January 26, 1950. 

My father was in two minds whether to sign his name as merely 'Sochet Singh' or 'Sochet Singh Aujla'. After long deliberation he decided on the latter. Appending 'Aujla' to his name was something he had rarely done before. In the vernacular version of the Indian Constitution, he appended his signature in Punjabi along with three more members namely Sardar Baldev Singh, the Union Defence Minister, Sardar Bahadur Ranjit Singh and Gyani Gurmukh Singh Musafir. Another Sikh members Sir Jogendra Singh signed in English even on the vernacular version of the Constitution. Dr Rajndra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Feroze Gandhi and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur signed the vernacular version in Hindi. Most notably Sheikh Mohammed Abdulla accomplished the distinction of signing his name in Hindi. A large number of Muslim members signed in Urdu and a few of South Indian members put their signatures in the regional languages. 

The Constituent Assembly met in the Constitution Hall, New Delhi at 11 am on 24th January 1950, with Dr Rajendra Prasad in the chair. The President initiated the discussion on the National Anthem by saying: "The composition consisting of the words and music known as Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to such alterations in the words as the Government may authorize as occasion arises, and the song Vande Mataram, which has played a historic part in the struggle for Indian freedom, shall be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana and shall have equal status with it. I hope this will satisfy the members." The House affirmed. 

It was then followed by the election of the President of India. The President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, invited H.V.R. Iengar, the Returning Officer, and Secretary of the Constituent Assembly to make the announcement. Iengar announced that only one nomination was received for the office of the President of India and the name of "that candidate is Dr Rajendra Prasad". This was greeted with loud and prolonged cheers from all the members of the House. The nomination was proposed by Jawaharlal Nehru and seconded by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It was followed by congratulatory speeches by B. Das from Orissa, Dr HC Mookerjee from West Bengal, Hussain Imam from Bihar and VI Muniswamy Pillay from Madras. 

After the presentation of the Hindi version of the Constitution, the President of the Constituent Assembly, announced that three copies of the Constitution were ready. One was in English completely hand-written and illustrated by Nand Lal Bose and other artists. Nandlal Bose was one of the greatest contemporary artists of the times. Strongly influenced by the Shantiniketan school of art of Tagore brothers, Nandlal Bose embellished the pages of the Constitution with artistic motifs on the margins for a calligraphic edition of the Indian Constitution — a piece of art in itself.

The second copy of the Constitution was printed in English and the third copy was a hand-written version in Hindi. All the members were called one by one in order of their seating to get up to sign three copies. The first to sign was Jawaharlal Nehru. My father signed on the ninth page of the Constitution. The other prominent signatories on that page included Dr YS Parmar, TT Krishnamachari, Sachidanand Sinha, HVR Iengar, VN Rau, Surendra Nath Mukhopadhya. In all 284 members signed.

The proceedings of the last session of the Constituent Assembly concluded with the singing of Jana Gana Mana by Purnima Banerji and her chorus. It was followed by Vande Mataram sung by Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra and his group. While the members stood up for the National Anthem and "Vande Mataram" the President announced the adjournment of the Constituent Assembly sine die as the singing was over. A historic photograph of all the members of the Constituent Assembly of India was taken on this day. This panoramic photograph was taken by the legendary photographer AR Datt.

The Constitution of India came into effect from January 26, 1950 and the Constituent Assembly was converted into a unicameral provisional Parliament till the first General Elections held in 1952 when a bicameral Parliament came into existence. 

G.S.Aujla is a retired Director 

General of Police from Punjab.